Sudan war could trigger world's worst famine

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BRUSSELS - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the war in Sudan could lead to the worst famine crisis in the world.

Sudan's war has shattered millions of lives and created the world's largest displacement crisis, said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain, after concluding her visit to South Sudan on Wednesday, where she met with fleeing families.

"20 years ago, Darfur was the world's largest hunger crisis and the world rallied to respond. But today, the people of Sudan have been forgotten. Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake," she said.

She added that there are over 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad trapped in a spiral of deteriorating food security. WFP is unable to get sufficient emergency food assistance to desperate communities in Sudan because of the relentless violence and interference by the warring parties, McCain said.

Right now, 90 percent of people facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas that are largely inaccessible to WFP, she noted.

Humanitarian assistance has been further disrupted after authorities revoked permissions for cross-border truck convoys, forcing WFP to halt its operations from Chad into Darfur. Over one million people in West and Central Darfur had received WFP assistance via this life-line route since August, and WFP was in the process of scaling up to support that number each month as hunger and malnutrition continue to skyrocket in Darfur, said the UN official.

Meanwhile, more and more people flee into South Sudan and Chad and the humanitarian response is at breaking point. Executive Director McCain travelled to Renk in eastern South Sudan where almost 600,000 people have crossed from Sudan in the last ten months. The WFP chief visited the crowded transit camps where families arrive hungry and are met with more hunger.

Newly arrived displaced people in South Sudan make up 35 percent of those facing catastrophic levels of hunger, the highest possible level, despite accounting for less than three percent of the population. The WFP is saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. It works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.